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As I began to put the pieces together in my mind, I didn’t need River to call me with more information. I knew what had happened.
Someone threatened River. Nearly beat him to death. The only way he would survive was for Dawsyn to willingly go with whoever stole her from me.
The only thing I didn’t know was who. There wasn’t a single person I could think of who would go to those lengths or have the resources to know what Dawsyn was to me.
Though, that didn’t mean such a person didn’t exist. Whoever they were, they were powerful, but I wasn’t afraid. I wouldn’t stop until I found my mate and took her back. I wouldn’t bow down to whoever had made our people scatter into the darkness.
I wouldn’t let my realm die and my mate with it.
My fingers dug into the upturned dirt one last time, and I closed my eyes, giving my final farewell to my uncles. This wasn’t the formal burial they should have had, but it was the best I could offer at the moment and better than letting them rot inside their home.
As I stood back up, my shoulders tensed. I took a deep inhale, staying as still as possible. Nothing was out of the ordinary, but I knew without a doubt I was no longer alone.
My fingers extended into claws, and I was two seconds from shifting when a force leapt for me. I swiped my right arm out and sank my sharp claws into metal.
The responding laugh was the last thing I expected, but it was also a welcome sound.
“Good to see Earth didn’t weaken your senses, old friend,” a familiar voice said as I pulled my arm back.
My eyes took in my oldest friend Lykem. His short strawberry-blond hair was matted and dirty as if he’d been living outside for days, possibly even weeks. Yet, his blue eyes were bright with mischief as if he’d been having the time of his life.
Fresh scars littered his arms, and his chest was covered with chainmail while his arms held the metal shield I’d just punctured.
“What the hell has been happening here?” I asked, glancing back at the ground where I’d just laid my uncles to rest. “And why were they left behind?”
Fury coated my words. I didn’t blame Lykem—at least not yet—but there was no containing the rageful grief currently moving through me. A burning so severe inside my chest that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be whole again. Not without Dawsyn. Not without my family that I’d been trying so hard to save but had left me in the dark.
It was difficult not to be resentful toward them for sending me away and not telling me how bad things were when I’d never have met Dawsyn if I hadn’t gone to Mystics Academy. But still, the thoughts were there.
“It was two days after you left,” Lykem answered. “Hellfire came down from the sky. We suspected from the dark forest, but every raid we’ve done there has resulted in no signs as to who or what is attacking us. The lightning has also worsened, but everything has been calmer the last few days.”
I suspected that was because whoever was doing this had left to steal my mate.
The snarl that ripped from my chest at the mere thought had Lykem backing up two steps. “What’s going on? What do you know?”
My darkening eyes leveled on him. “What I know is that my family hid all of this from me. That my uncles are dead, my grandmother is missing, and someone has taken my mate.”
I was drowning in ire. I’d been containing it to stay focused on finding Dawsyn and my family, but the more time that passed without them, the less I could tamp down the frenzy of wrath within me.
Energy sizzled along my skin, scales poked through, and the incoming shift was nothing that I could stop.
Lykem moved out of the way just in time to avoid being stomped on by my dragon. My roar was filled with the sorrow I’d been trying to ignore and the fury I no longer wanted to hide.
Sparks of white energy sizzled along our scales and grew in power as we breathed harder. My mind was fully melded with my dragon’s, something we hadn’t been able to do since leaving Drago all those weeks ago. We were one, and not having to worry about expelling too much power was a small relief I hadn’t expected. Even upon arriving earlier, I’d been holding back to maintain some semblance of control, but not any longer.
Our wings flapped hard, and we pushed into the sky. Lightning ricocheted around us, the charge coming from deep within my dragon’s form. Releasing the bolts of energy recharged my soul. Reminded me who I was, what I was capable of, and why I’d been chosen to go to Earth to find the solution to our realm’s problem.
I was Cillian of the Silver clan. This was my home, and nobody was going to take it from me. Not only that, but I was going to find Dawsyn and rip the throat out of the bastard who thought to touch her when she was already mine.
My mate. My wolf. All fuckingmine.
This wrath had been so tightly wound inside me that once I’d unleashed the depths of its power, there was no containing it.
Lykem’s red dragon followed behind me at a safe distance, but while I appreciated that he’d been the only one to come out of hiding for me, I didn’t need him at the moment. I needed Dawsyn. I needed to know that my Nannio wasn’t dead like my uncles.
I needed whatever the fuck was happening here to end.
We soared through the sky, power rolling off our scales and into the sky in visible waves. Everything we’d been forced to keep pent up for those weeks on Earth was finally set free. I’d expected to feel better once this happened, but the longer we were in the sky, the more I saw.
